Scrappy Storytime Squares

I really liked the Storytime Squares  pattern that I used in my last quilt, and decided to see if I could come up with enough squares from the scrap drawer to make another one.

I went through the scraps, and pulled out any squares that I thought I could use, arranging them in color piles.

Then I came across  the leftover charm squares from making this quilt.

I added some squares from the piles of colored scraps, and cut them down to size until I had this collection,

and in no time, I had a finished quilt top:

I love this pattern!  The next time we got together with our "Quilt for Kids" coordinator for a Sew Day, I raided the 5" square box and came up with two more Storytime Squares quilt.  The first was this one using mostly brights:

And the second was this one using novelty prints:

Spoolin' around

A Spools quilt has been on my to-do list for a long time.

When I saw that Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms had recently released a mini version of her popular Spools pattern, I knew it was just the thing I was looking for.

I used a charm pack of "Happy Go Lucky" for the spool centers. The pattern was easy to follow.  The best part was playing around with the fabric strips to decide the placement of colors for the spools.

Sewing together the spool tops and bottoms was a little fiddly,  but there were only 9 spools afterall.  Here's my finished top:

This little cutie measures just 16 x 18 inches. All you need for a backing is a fat quarter.  I love it.

A story of strings

A few years back, I made this blue and yellow string quilt:

Before I chose the blue/light blue borders I had planned on using up the extra strings to make a piano key border.  I made the border and auditioned it with the quilt:

I decided the piano keys were too much, so I rolled them up and set them aside, thinking maybe I could use them on something else someday.

I came across them during the big sewing room tidy-up and knew that the time had come to make them into a small quilt.  I did a little slice and dice and removed the more subdued blues and paler yellows, and added in a few brighter shades:

Then I combined them with some royal blue border strips that were leftover from another project that I can't recall, and came up with this:

I just knew those strips would come in handy someday.   I find it hard enough to throw away even the smallest scrap, and I think I might have to start even saving those.

Another find in the sewing room was a charm pack of Aneela Hoey  "Posy" fabrics.

I added in about 20 charms that I cut from my stash, and made this Springtime quilt:

What to do with a charm pack

I am always, always drawn to charm packs.  I love the idea of owning one little piece of all the coordinating prints in a fabric line.  But what to do with them?

This past summer I came across this book:  Charmed and Dangerous by Heather Mulder Peterson:

The cute wordplay in the title alone was enough to make me pick it up and flip through it.  I decided to try the Crossroads table runner using a charm pack of Dogwood Trail by Moda.

What I really liked about this pattern is that it allowed me to use the light/white charms in the sashings as well as the medium/darks in the squares.

In fact, I liked it so much I cut into my collection of Christmas fabrics and made 5"charms just so I could make another runner for Christmas:

The construction of this table runner does not require cutting triangles.  The triangles are created by trimming the runner after it is all sewn together.

I like how the center of the pattern forms a nice square for surrounding whatever you might choose to put on top of the runner, in this case a candle.

I like the whole idea of seasonal table runners.  They're quick to make and add a nice touch to the room.  Too bad I missed out on making one for Valentine's Day, but there is always next year....

And now for something completely different

 I picked up a charm pack of Moda's Fresh Flowers and decided to make a small project while I waited for inspiration to strike on the borders for my Kaleidoscope.   After working with the cool jewel tones of my last project, I was ready to dive into a new color palette.   Aren't these just yummy?

I chose a 3 inch paper pieced heart pattern from Carol Doak's book "Show me How to Paper Piece" and cut up a few charm squares into 1 1/2" strips:

Before I knew it, I had made several of these:

I chose a garden print for the border, and a yellow fat quarter was just the right size for the backing.  By the next day, I had the top finished, basted and machine quilted with a little stitch in the ditch.  Binding was done that night while watching "Les Mis" on PBS.

Here's the little cutie all finished.

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see a project get finished!  I hopped in the car and brought it down to the quilt shop to show Maryann.

After leaving the shop, I went across the street to the nearest home goods store, and this display  is what greeted me as soon as I walked in:

I wanted to buy them all and bring them home just to display along with my quilt!